Monday, May 24, 2010

CTX: XenApp 6 Feature Overview - PART 2

XenApp 6 Feature Overview: Single Instance Management

Application and server images are stored, maintained and updated once in the datacenter and delivered on-demand. This simplifies management, avoids application conflicts and makes it easy to provide real-time updates.

• Provisioning services: Manage the entire XenApp farm of application hosting servers, both physical or virtual, from a single standardized server image.• Template-style configuration: Use Microsoft Group Policies to configure provisioned servers automatically or re-configure them on-the-fly.• App hub: A central location that acts as a single point of delivery for all applications.• Application profile: A package containing multiple variations of an application for different Windows operating systems. Profiles can be delivered to any device – locally delivered to Windows devices or hosted in the data center and delivered to any device.• Installation manager: If application installation is desired, Installation manager enables IT to automatically and remotely install applications across multiple servers simultaneously.• Role-based installation: Intuitive, role-based product installation is built with provisioning in mind and enables easy and simple migration to the latest XenApp platform• Live image updates: Application and server images can be updated without interrupting the production XenApp system. Server updates apply on next boot and application updates are applied the next time they are launched by a user.• Instant application rollout and removal: Applications are configured for access and assigned to user groups. As soon as applications are published they can be accessed by users from any PC or mobile device without IT intervention. Applications can similarly be de-provisioned.• Automatic application synch and rollback: Applications can be patched, reconfigured or updated once, in the data center and users automatically synchronize these changes upon next connection. If an application update needs to be rolled back, users see the change upon next launch.• Application self healing: Faulty applications due to user error or file corruption are automatically “healed” upon next launch to avoid support issues.• Application publishing: IT can create a personalized application list for users by configuring who can access each application, how it will be delivered and what the user experience will be.• Content publishing: IT can publish internal and external content (e.g. documents, web sites) and configure who can see them. Published content is presented along-side applications.• Active Directory Group Policy integration: Policy-style management enables IT to configure application availability and delivery using familiar Active Directory Group Policies and Local Group Policies. This enables fine-level control of applications and allows for easy control of thousands of applications delivered to thousands of users on thousands of servers.• Application Lease Control: Administrators can set how long an application is available for offline use. Users must reconnect to the network prior to the end of the lease period or the application cannot be used. In this manner, administrators retain a level of license control within their environment.

Citrix XenApp 6 Book

About Me

Windows Infrastructure Architect specialized in Automation, Citrix, Cloud (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) and Virtualization with 19 years of experience and passion for designing, building, deploying, and supporting Windows solutions in America, Asia and Europe.
Guillermo wrote two books about Citrix XenApp, published by Packt Publishing.
He is the founder and developer of KopiCloud, which provides tools for multi-cloud (AWS, Azure and GCE) infrastructure as a code.
Also, he is the founder and developer of the popular site CtxAdmTools, which provides free automation tools to manage Citrix environments, Cloud (AWS and Azure), Active Directory, Virtualization and more.